I see a lot of articles on here about the pressures of school and the suicide rate, thought this offered another perspective on the pressures of the study all the time mind set.

Quote:

SKorea’s secret: Runaway teen prostitution

Parental pressure to achieve good grades has led to a soaring number of children on the streets who are selling sex.

Seoul, South Korea - South Korea is paying a high price for its rigorous education system - a major reason for its economic success - with teenagers increasingly turning to prostitution after fleeing home to escape academic pressure.

An estimated 200,000 youths - at least 60 per cent female teenagers - roam the country's streets. About half have worked as underage prostitutes, according to the latest government figures.

Many say they initially ran away to be with friends instead of studying, and later ended up selling their bodies to earn money to survive.

"In high school, I would say that massive academic pressure is the main driver pushing kids onto the streets," says a professor at a prominent South Korean university, who requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity in the country.

"High school students are being forced to study every day after school until late at night, often until 1am, by their parents so they can get into a good college, a requisite for obtaining high-paying jobs"- University professor

This reporter spent several weeks talking to runaway girls. All were between age 12 and 18, and their names have been changed to protect their identities.

Most lived in a "runaway family", the term they use to describe a group of teenagers who meet in Internet chat rooms and develop relationships based on selling sex.

Such "families" often sleep together in hotel rooms where they've sold sex beforehand. Or they're made up of one or more underage prostitutes who seek shelter in rooms owned by individuals who, in return, expect them to do anything from chores to selling sex.

The prostitution problem in South Korea continues to stump authorities. An estimated 1.2 million women are believed involved in the business - or about 20 per cent of all South Korean women aged 15-29.

What a disgusting tragedy.
Education should just prepare these girls to graduate high school (without all that insane amount of "studying") and to become good wives/mothers. Yes, there will be a few that will go on to college/university and other things but learning how to be a good mom as well as excelling in other uxorial duties is certainly wholesome and beneficial.

I see a lot of articles on here about the pressures of school and the suicide rate, thought this offered another perspective on the pressures of the study all the time mind set.

Quote:

The prostitution problem in South Korea continues to stump authorities. An estimated 1.2 million women are believed involved in the business - or about 20 per cent of all South Korean women aged 15-29.

Assuming it includes juicy bar girls and the like, I'm not exactly surprised about the percentage of ladies working the hook game here anonymously in their younger years to earn extra cash. But, the relation to academic pressure wasn't something I'd really considered before, though I know how ingrained it is in the culture.

I'm not that kind of guy, but I've been to a number of higher end "establishments" with acquaintances where money, drinks, etc., are directly used as a means to reach the tunnel. Most of them were seemingly regular girls who claimed to be using the job as a means for paying their way through college, travel, or something like that. I've been with Korean girls who have told that it's a pretty regular phenomenon for men to proposition women for sex in exchange for handbags or other "high value" items. And, similarly, for women to seek men who will give them such things in exchange for sex.

Korea is a very superficial society. It's not a huge surprise that the physical aspects exceed that of the mental in regard to how modern Korean women are likely to see things. I know the article is referring to a kind of semi-forced prostitution, but I've never experienced or witnessed anything like that here. However, sexual exchanges involving English lessons and material items are something that I've heard about or experienced pretty regularly. I know that goes on everywhere, but it seems a bit more pronounced here, especially for such an apparently advanced society.

An estimated 1.2 million women are believed involved in the business - or about 20 per cent of all South Korean women aged 15-29.

One in five. Thats an incredible number.

Not enough real job opportunities for women in this male-dominated country.

There is no way that 20% of women in Korea are so destitute they need to hook. No way. When I was in Korea I lived in a studio in Gangnam that was full of hooker girls. They all had the most expensive purses and shoes and pranced around like peacocks showing it off. They were doing it for money b/c they wanted stuff.

I've heard of Vietnamese girls doing this in their late teens and early 20s; making some cash and getting out of the game when they're at the age for making babies with a husband or starting a career. They leave the countryside to make some quick cash in the cities, send their money home to their parents, and get out with their health if they're lucky.

Not before heard about this in Korea, though. Maybe one in five have been involved, in one way or another, before but no way 20% of 15-30 year olds in a conservative, mostly modern country are hooking.

I feel the stats may speak the truth if they include all the noraebang and dabang girls who are not necessarily having straight up sex for money.

Same here. Back when I first got to Korea my Korean friends would keep pointing out the various places where you could buy sex... barbershops, norae-bars, luxury cafes, anma, kisu-bangs, officetel mini-brothels, sports massage, etc. Not to mention straight-up brothels like the ones in the Yongsan "red light" district. As for that particular place, I know that it was levelled this year, but I have a strong suspicion that the girls that worked there didn't magically change careers overnight.

20% of the young female population seems to sound just about right given the sheer amount of establishments you see in Seoul and Gyeonggi. I mean, someone's gotta staff all those places.

I feel the stats may speak the truth if they include all the noraebang and dabang girls who are not necessarily having straight up sex for money.

Same here. Back when I first got to Korea my Korean friends would keep pointing out the various places where you could buy sex... barbershops, norae-bars, luxury cafes, anma, kisu-bangs, officetel mini-brothels, sports massage, etc. Not to mention straight-up brothels like the ones in the Yongsan "red light" district. As for that particular place, I know that it was levelled this year, but I have a strong suspicion that the girls that worked there didn't magically change careers overnight.

20% of the young female population seems to sound just about right given the sheer amount of establishments you see in Seoul and Gyeonggi. I mean, someone's gotta staff all those places.

It's 20% involved in some way, like cashiers, greeters, dishwashers... Absolutely no way 20% of Korean girls sell their body.

While I won't disagree that young girls are selling themselves (Japanese high schoolers have been doing that for years), I'll call BS on the 20% figure.

It basically means that any of us who teach HS that 20% of the girls we teach are selling themselves. Where do they find the time? lol. They have curfews for one. Heck, uni teachers I know say a lot of their own students who are commuting still have curfews.

Any way you dice it, it's still the elite living it up, and everyone else having to scrape by best they can.

Korea is an economic force (one of 3 OECD countries whose economy grew last year), yet is second to last in social welfare.

One governement official and his wife embezzled 7 million dollars from the Yeosu Expo last year, one of 17,000 government officials who were caught siphoning off public funds.

The current president's family is being investigated for attempting to buy up land and build a house with taxpayer's money, and one of his brother's is already a jailbird for other financial escapades.

Yeah if I were a young student here I wouldn't be so into studying 'till 1am year-round so I could be a corporate stooge or white collar crook some day, and probably would end up in some kind of trouble.

Lot of easy pickings for older disgruntled Koreans equally disatisfied with their surroundings.

And to think if the rich bastards just invested a little more in their people and surroundings...the streets might be a little cleaner...a few more decent parks and adequate sports facilities for the kids (not just the nicer neighborhoods)...older folk could do with a bit more of a pension and health care, relieving some weight from their children and grand kids...might even get the suicide rate to fall to 2nd highest in the OECD...meanwhile public officals continue to earnestly "research" the problem...

While I won't disagree that young girls are selling themselves (Japanese high schoolers have been doing that for years), I'll call BS on the 20% figure.

It basically means that any of us who teach HS that 20% of the girls we teach are selling themselves. Where do they find the time? lol. They have curfews for one. Heck, uni teachers I know say a lot of their own students who are commuting still have curfews.

I think if you're running away from home you don't really have to worry about a curfew.

Steelrails wrote:

ActionJackson's "From Schoolgirl to Working girl" In a seedy theater near you.

"Al Jazeera first published this story quoting an estimation by a coalition of women’s groups that there are 1.2 million women in the sex trade in South Korea, and that 20 per cent of all South Korean women aged 15-29 were involved in prostitution. However, these NGO figures are not supported by any official data and are impossible to verify. We have removed those statistics as we believe they are not reliable. After reviewing all the data, we also believe the article overstated the role played by educational pressure on teen runaways.